Soups

The Japanese love soups and serve them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Most soups are based on an amber-colored, sea-flavored stock called dashi, but a gingery chicken broth, and occasionally a clam or pork stock, are also enjoyed.

Clear soups are thought to be the most elegant and are likely to be served as part of a full-course dinner or with a delicate sushi (vinegared rice) entrée. Typically, a few bits of vegetable carved in a seasonal motif and fish or shellfish will rest in a delicately seasoned sea broth.